‘I’m a dietitian and I spend $125 a week on food – this is what I buy’

Think healthy eating is expensive? It’s time to think again. Sure, you could spend a small (or large) fortune on superfoods, fancy powders and magical elixirs – but you can also eat super healthy on the cheap.

To give you an idea of how a dietitian spends their food budget, here’s a wrap up of my average shopping trolley. My partner and I budget $250 a week for groceries for the two of us – so excluding the occasional takeaway meal, I’d estimate the average is $125 per head per week.

That’s less than $20 a day! I don’t go overboard on trendy, expensive foods... but at the same time, there are places I could cut back if I needed to reign it in a little.

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First stop: fresh produce

The majority of your meals should be fruit and veggies, so I load up in the fresh produce department of the supermarket. Depending on the week, I’d estimate about 25 to 40 per cent of my shop is fruit and vegetables.

To keep the cost down, I try to buy what’s in season because that’s always the cheapest. I also often buy frozen fruit and vegetables, like mixed berries and peas, which are far cheaper than their fresh counterparts.

Not only does this benefit your bank balance, it also helps you to eat a wider variety of food, which is a good thing because different foods provide different micronutrients.

Second stop: protein

I’m not vegetarian, but I do eat a lot of vegetarian meals – so I save a fair bit of coin by skipping expensive cuts of meat. On average, we’d have red meat and chicken only once per week, and the rest of our dinners are based on seafood, eggs or legumes.

I know you’re thinking that seafood is expensive – and I agree, it can put a hefty dent in your weekly shop. But, I either opt for smaller cheaper fillets or go for canned varieties like salmon or tuna.

To give you some perspective, here’s a typical week of meals for us:

A lot of people don’t realise that dairy foods provide a decent chunk of protein, too, so I always have milk, yoghurt and cheese in my shopping trolley. I’d guess yoghurt is one of the most expensive items on my list – I eat it almost every day for breakfast, and my partner takes it to work for a snack.

Third stop: the aisles

The rest of my shop is made up of essentials from the aisles. This obviously depends on what I’ve got on hand at home, but some of the most regular items from the aisles I buy are:

And last but not least... the cherry on top

Here’s a reality check: dietitians are real people too – and I love chocolate, ice cream and chips just as much as the next person. Instead of buying and keeping mountains of treats at home, however, I’ll usually pick one small indulgence during my weekly shop to enjoy that weekend. Think: a chocolate bar or a mini tub of ice cream to share.

And there you have it! How I spend my weekly grocery budget. It works out to be less than $20 a day – and when you consider that there are a lot of people who spend that much on takeaway lunch at work every single day, I don’t think it’s too extravagant. Some weeks it might blow out a little, and other weeks comes in far under budget.

Melissa Meier is a Sydney-based accredited practising dietitian. You can connect with her on Instagram @honest_nutrition.